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Month: April 2014

A dose of obsession

I’ve talked about an entrepreneur’s best friend, so today I’ll talk about your enemy number one: obsession. Obsession, according to Dictionary.com, “is the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc”. Successful entrepreneurs obsess over their idea (and over every detail of their startup), unsuccessful entrepreneurs obsess over their idea as well (and every other detail of their startup, too). So what’s the difference??

Obsession isn’t all bad; Google offers the following synonyms for obsession: compulsion, infatuation and even passion. It’s also a strong desire, belief or love for something. It’s the kind of desire, belief, or love that gets you going, motivates you, encourages you, and drives you. In part, it takes a bit of obsession to get into entrepreneurship; an entrepreneur has to be a little bit crazy, right?

On the hand, obsession can be bad, it can be a disease, and perfection is often a symptom. Unfortunately, perfection is an inhibitor and it may lead to analysis paralysis, a state in which over-thinking actually stunts a startup’s growth by impairing your decision-making abilities. How can you sell your product if you’re spending too much time preparing a demo? How can you ship your product if you’re analyzing its design too deeply? How can you ship your product if you’re afraid of people’s reactions?

The good side of obsession is persistence, the bad side is blindness so beware tunnel vision. Find the balance that is right for you and steer your startup in the right direction. Use your obsession to push yourself forward, but don’t let it hold you back. Obsession is wanting to make dreams to come true, but is that really so crazy?

Defining a startup and what that means for an entrepreneur

Startup is a term that is hard to define and that’s because most people don’t agree on a single definition, not even among entrepreneurs. I’ve read about many different criteria for classifying a company as a startup and not a small business, but the truth is that the real difference is merely the image. Startup is a brand, it’s sexier and feels premium, while small business, well, it’s just a smaller-sized version of a business, which doesn’t sound quite as appealing, right? It’s superficial, really.

Company that sells users(‘s data)

A startup uses data provided by the users themselves to make money by selling it to the highest bidder, which is usually advertisers and other times bigger companies (as some may argue is the case of Facebook’s latest string of acquisitions).

Company without business model that is in search of monetization

A startup creates a great product for free and then struggles to incorporate a business model into its core, generally through advertising. Startups like this can be extremely successful without making a cent simply because of high adoption rates and incredible growth. In the end, they still need money either from its customers or from its investors.

Company that is small and (possibly) in the tech industry

A startup is simply a small business, more often than not operating in the tech industry. In this case, any business can be a startup, even a blog, a freelancer, a consulting service, or a local shop.

Company that creates a market through innovation

A startup launches a product and also a category. It creates a new market and drives demand for its product. In this case, the startup is an innovator and its product is first-to-market; investors will take a gamble and competitors may wait by the sidelines before jumping in for a piece of the pie.

Company with one product that grows into a business

A startup is built around one product which needs to scale by building a business around itself. Sometimes, these are single-feature products; think of mobile applications. These apps are built purely focused on the product offering and either eventually make money which forces them to shift focus towards business or eventually realize that they need to make money to keep going and then shift their focus towards business.

Company that makes no profit and is VC-backed

A startup offers a product or service at lower pricing than the market and often operates on a loss but is covered by venture capital. Startups like this are usually in a rush for land grab, competing for market share rather than revenue.

Startups are evolving and so is their definition

Startups should be defined by their ability to fail, their ability to grow beyond expectations. To challenge and overcome paradigms. A startup is a modern day David fighting the Goliath of today’s corporations. That’s the way I like to see it. How does that affect us entrepreneurs? We have the opportunity, and even the duty, to shape this definition. We are leading the charge of innovation and building the future of business. Be part and be proud.

Here’s why we should change the way we think about money for startups

Ten dollars is, of course, a nominal amount. But, the point is that if someone – anyone – is willing to invest even the smallest amount of their own money on your product, then you know you’re onto something. The bigger implication here is that money for startups is, most of the time, synonym to investment when money for startups should mean support; so stop searching for that big paycheck and go find what will really boost your startup.

Many startups have been successful by charging for their product from the very first day. Although that may not work for every startup, charging upfront means more than just having incoming revenue, it means receiving support from people who care. Another way to get support straightaway is through crowdfunding, where every contribution counts no matter how big or small because it’s the power of the community that makes a difference. This means, again, receiving support form people who care.

Besides being a great way to validate your startup idea, charging for your product or asking for contributions will get you real, genuine support as opposed to an investor looking to make a quick buck off your idea. Bootstrapping might not be a possibility for every entrepreneur, but startups should pay more attention to alternative opportunities for growth. While a large investment might help market the product and increase user base, a small number of paying users can help improve the product itself and strengthen communication.

One million dollars is a dream, a mirage in the desert, and worst of all, it’s a distraction. An entrepreneur has to think about every dollar cent his startup earns – and to fight to earn it. With every cent comes great support (yes, I’m borrowing from Spider-Man) and you would do well to collect all the great support you can because it will make a huge difference for your startup. Your customer is your biggest supporter and when you do cash out, it will be more fulfilling knowing that people have supported you along the way than filling your pocket with money.

Debunking the startup idea

Startup ideas are overrated. They are like weird relatives: everyone has one. And since ideas are so easy to come by, why not invest your time and effort in more than one? The more, the better! After all, ideas are a dime a dozen, right?

Ideas don’t cost money – not initially, at least. There are even ways you can validate your idea for free. If you’re a technical person, you can build your own product; if you’re a suit businessman then you can build your community. All it really costs you is your time. Now, you might have a family, a job or other commitments, but you can always decide how much time you want to invest in your ideas.

Too often, entrepreneurs get caught up in thinking about the money, how much it would take to build something and how much to market it. Well, normally you should be to do at least one of those with your time. You may then need to think about finding a partner for the other part or, at this point, consider the money that would be required. Either way, that’s less money you need to invest, and more time you can invest.

Entrepreneurship is risky and investing all your time in one idea can be a bad idea (no pun intended). It’s like they say, you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. So, think about trying out different ideas to maximize your chances of success! Another reason for doing more than one idea at the same time is purely to stimulate your brain by exercising it with different tasks and pumping it with creativity. Get your juices flowing!

The idea isn’t really the idea. It’s just another idea. Another in a long line of ideas. Some will work, some won’t. Why limit yourself to one only?

Tunnel vision is a startup killer

An entrepreneur’s job is tough – we all know that – but one of the lesser-discussed challenges we face is tunnel vision. Entrepreneurs are prone to tunnel vision because we set out sights on something and we focus so hard on getting it that we forget the other “stuff”. Like race horses, we see only the finish line, rather than everything that’s happening around us.

As entrepreneurs, we set out with a business goal: to conquer the world. Joking but we do all want a million users or a million dollars or a million followers or a million something. The problem is getting caught up in our goal and not being able to look past it which makes us miss opportunities, sacrifice quality, and drive users away. Most goals lead to other goals, and the best goals are the ones that escalate towards your startup’s mission.

When you’re chasing a million followers, you forget your users; when you’re chasing a million users, you forget your revenue; when you’re chasing a million dollars, you forget your product; when you’re chasing a million anything, you forget everything else. Of course it’s important to have goals, know your goals, chase your goals, but an entrepreneur’s job is to juggle all the goals of your startup while keeping in mind its mission, and overlooking goals can cost you big time.

Yes, unsurprisingly it seems that the general consensus is that execution trumps idea. Of course, it doesn’t have to be one against the other and successful startups should do both things well while successful entrepreneurs will have passion for their idea and inspire it in others to help execute. Unfortunately, this is all you get: an ambiguous answer at most; it’s up to you to put your idea and execution to the test as an entrepreneur.

However, I will offer this: either great ideas or great execution can lead to good startups. If you have a great idea that answers a need or solves a problem well, your startup can succeed. If you have a great team or set of skills which can help you with execution, your startup can also succeed.

A change of pace with routine

One of the big changes I’ve made recently is adding routine to my life. I’ve always been one to act on impulse and a bit of a procrastinator. Sure, I get things done but sometimes at the last minute. With a routine, I always know what to do when and what needs to be done now. So I’m going to tell you how and why routine can be your friend, too.

An entrepreneur must know how to best use his time and apply his energy. Whether you work from home, the office, a co-working space, or you have a job, family, etc., routine will help you organize your tasks and priorities.

I now enjoy the benefits of routine – here are some rewards you can reap:

you’ll have time to devote to yourself, your hobbies, your fulfillment

there are only so many hours a day and you’ll boost your productivity at any given time

routine is like a daily workout and you’ll train your body and muscles for maximum output

doing things on time keeps the people around you happy, and you, in turn, happier

don’t ever forget the things you have to do again

Look for these barriers – and overcome them!

it takes energy to build a new routine and it takes time for it to become a habit

deep down, procrastination is a habit so you have to fight to break it

life is unpredictable and things are sure to come up, so make some time for dealing with the unforeseen

Now, routine gives me more time and focus. I’m sharp and getting sharper and I look forward to my daily workout. It’s great motivation for an entrepreneur and it produces real results. Give it a try and see for yourself what kind of routine suits you best.

Turn your boring routine into a challenging workout to train and better yourself!